


come with me (we'll go together)

by laur2ren



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: AU where Ochi finds Rey on Jakku and brings her to Exegol, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ben turns to the dark sooner, F/M, Young Ben Solo, Young Rey, and finds something he wasn't looking for, but Palpatine doesn't kill her, but instead of snoke coming to him he goes to snoke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:00:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25427314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laur2ren/pseuds/laur2ren
Summary: AU where Rey is raised on Exegol under her grandfather, Palpatine. After Ben’s fall to the dark, he races to the origin of the voice in his head to the planet. However, flustered and scared, he uses the wrong entrance, and Rey finds him wandering in, asking for a man named Snoke.
Relationships: Rey & Ben Solo, Rey & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	come with me (we'll go together)

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't really like Rey's backstory that was introduced to us in tros, but here I am writing about it anyways lol. This fic runs with the idea that Ochi finds Rey on Jakku (after her parents sold her there to "protect her") and when she's brought to Palpatine on Exegol, she's just kinda there on the planet. If Palpatine truly saw what she was to become, he'd probably kill her, but then I wouldn't have a story and so,,, tada. Concerning Ben, he turns earlier (than in canon) in this fic, and so preparations for his fall weren't exactly ready yet. I hope you enjoy!

Before 

Rey first wanders in, minutes before her lessons for the day were going to start. The room is sparsely lighted, the brightest glow in the room coming from the gleam from some sort of tank. 

_A tank,_ Rey thinks, _but no fishies swimming inside._ She frowns. She steps further in. 

As Rey makes her way inside, tiptoe by tiptoe, what she finds is much, much, different than what she expects. _Definitely not fishies._

What greeted Rey was… a person? A few feet away, she stops, processing the sight before her. There in a tube shaped tank, a head attached to a body, terribly misshapen, floated in front of her. Surrounded by a green goo, the lights illuminating the monstrosity barely illuminate the room. The bleak light shines on a small label at the base of the tank: incubation tank. She’d have to ask her grandfather what that was. 

“Rey,” a voice from where she entered reached her. “Whatever are you doing in here?” 

Rey slowly turns. Her grandfather had found her! She could ask him what was in the tank. 

“Grandfather,” she started, “what is this? What’s an ‘in-coo-bat-ion’ tank? Is that a person in there?” 

Palpatine was waving his hand, beckoning her out of the room. She scurries to comply. When she approaches, her grandfather lightly places his gnarled hand on her shoulder, leading her away from the room. 

“That indeed,” he pauses, removing his hand, continuing down the hallway they’ve entered, “is a person, Snoke. He’s to be a teacher.” 

Rey grimaces. _He’s ugly,_ she mentally thinks. Then a more pressing question enters her brain. She gasps, 

“Is that how babies are made?” 

Palpatine stops his advance. Rey only looks at him, an excited yet inquisitive look on her face. 

“No,” his tone, dry, “babies are not made in incubation tanks.” 

“Well then where-” 

But her Grandfather cuts her off. 

“A question to ask your tutors. See to it that you ask them.” With that, he walks away, his figures slowly making its way down the dim hallway, black robes trailing behind. 

Later, upon asking her tutor, he only shook his head, claiming irrelevance to the topic. _Well if I can’t know about that, I’ll ask about the pickle Snoke._ She does as such. Pryde shakes his head again. Rey frowns. Annoyed, she opens up her holopad for lessons, but quickly notes her questions in a sidebar, hoping to research the topics later. 

* * *

A Couple Years Later 

Rey is on her way to training when she hears a hushed conversation filter out from the room containing the incubation tank she discovered years back. 

“The boy is almost ready to turn,” she hears her grandfather rasp, “report the status of this.” 

Peeking around the corner of the doorway, she sees Palpatine gesture to the tank where now three sit in incubation. _Oh force,_ she thinks, _now there’s more ugly Snokes._ She examines the scene before her. An even bigger tank, though still a glowing green, holds three identical misshapen bodies. 

_Wait. Who is grandfather talking about?_ She strains to better listen, inching forward, but daring not to come into view. She hears the caretaker of the incubated bodies respond. 

“Soon, my lord,” the caretaker starts to show a datapad, but her grandfather only holds up his hand, using the force to halt its progress. 

“Be sure you see to its finish,” he grates, “this is an important part to my plans.” 

Rey slowly backs away as if to run before her grandfather senses her presence. However, nothing went past his awareness, _the Force works in mysterious ways, and unfortunately none in mine_ , she thinks, and she glumly makes her way back to lessons she had decidedly ignored for the day. _Maybe grandfather didn’t notice me,_ she thinks, pushing open the door to where an extremely annoyed tutor Pryde stood. 

“Your grandfather will be notified of this little escapade of yours Miss Palpatine,” he sniffs, “now open your holopad to the second text.” 

_Or maybe not._

However, the thought of the mysterious boy her grandfather mentions lies in her thoughts, pushing out any thoughts of her grandfather’s reaction to her previous actions, out of her head. 

She finds it hard to focus on lessons that day. 

* * *

Now (same year)

Rey is working on a small droid unit, _this droid will become my friend here once he’s all fixed up,_ in one of the several hangars when she hears the sounds of a ship approaching. However, it isn’t the well accustomed whine of a TIE fighter she’s used to, it's something different. 

She looks up from the engine she was working on, curious. _Not many visitors here on Exegol_ , she thinks, _not like the atmosphere allows for them._

The ship, _oh stars, it’s an x wing._ She’s definitely interested now. Her grandfather had her learn of some history, and she knew these particular ships weren’t usually on the side of the long gone Empire; they were of the Republic. 

But both the Empire and Republic were gone now. 

However, even past the eternal storm of lightning on the surface, it is a wonder it wasn’t shot down. 

She slowly approached the visitor ship, who now had just landed. The dim light of the planet and the flashes of lightning did very little to help her see. However, after a moment she sees a mop of black hair pop out, followed by the pale face of a boy. Rey blinks. _Who was this?_

The boy was standing now, looking below, sizing the fall from the cockpit to the ground. The gleam of a metal rod, _a lightsaber,_ she notes, dangles, clipped on his belt. She was about to call to ask if he needed the stairs for assistance, when he gracefully jumps, quietly landing on his feet. 

_A Jedi,_ she thinks. The boy begins to now take stock of his surroundings, slowly circling in his place. Then, as if sensing her thoughts, his head whips around finding her in the dark. _Oops._

She steps out of her hiding place. The tall crates surrounding her did most of the cover on her. 

“Um,” she’s honestly confused, “hello? Who are you?” 

The boy only looks at her for a moment, then clears his throat. 

“I’m looking for a man named Snoke.” His voice cracks. 

_The pickle?_ _Pickle Snoke?_ She frowns. She remembers the room where he’s kept, but why was this boy looking for it?

The boy is looking at her curiously. 

“I can take you to him,” she responds, then purses her lip. She knows she probably shouldn’t introduce herself to strangers, but this planet just never gets any visitors anywhere near her age. Not that his boy is that close in age, he looks like a teenager, and she is a child, but the sentiment still stands. “I’m Rey.” She sticks out a tiny grease speckled hand. 

“Ben,” he squats down to her level to shake her hand. It engulfs hers. It was warm, but a little clammy, as if he’d been clenching the controls when he was flying. He stands back up, but she doesn’t let go. Something, some feeling, tells her she shouldn’t. So instead of letting go, she turns around, their hands still clasped, and she starts leading this Ben towards the room she found long ago. 

After a few minutes of walking, the low hum of the planet filling the silence between them, Rey blurts the questions swirling that had been swirling in her mind. 

“Are you a Jedi? I see the lightsaber you have. Also, your robes look like the Jedi of old. Were you training? My grandfather lets me train, but not with a lightsaber. Why are your robes singed? Were you in a fire? Why would you go into fire? Where did you get that x wing? I’ve never been able to look into x wings, there’s only TIE’s and star destroyers and I can’t even go on those-” 

She turns her head around, an inquisitive look splayed on her face. Ben looked a little rough for wear when he came in, and now he looks overwhelmed at the onslaught of her questions. She tugs on his hand, as if to shake the answers from him. 

“I was in an accident,” he quietly responds, “and I barely got out alive.” He looks pensive. 

“Okayyyyyy,” Rey nods, not knowing what to say. “I’m glad you’re alright then!” She gives him a smile. 

Ben releases a watery laugh. 

“Yeah,” he blinks, “I guess I am too.” 

“So why are you looking for this pickle Snoke?” Rey asks. 

“Pickle… Snoke?” 

“Yep,” she pops her p, “All the Snokes sit like pickles in a jar.” 

“There’s more than one?” 

“Well, I’m assuming,” she purses her lips, “unless this Snoke has three heads.” 

Ben only looks confused. 

“No, I think he just has one.” 

As this conversation went on, Rey felt a niggling feeling in her head. Like a memory physically climbing to the surface of her brain, forcing her to remember something. After a few moments, feigning contemplation over his answers, she remembers. The memory of her spying on her grandfather asking of the progress for- _that’s it! The boy who would turn!_

“So you must be the boy who turned!” 

Ben recoils, his movement so sharp, jarring his hand from Rey’s where they were clasped. Rey frowns. She rather liked the feeling of his hand. It was soft and warm, there was nothing like it on Exegol. Exegol was filled with sharp edges and dark corners. She hastily grabbed at it once Ben stilled. 

A glazed look shone in Ben’s eyes, and he didn’t even protest when she went to grab for it again. 

“Yeah,” he choked out, “I’m the boy who turned.” 

A few moments later, they arrived at the room. 

Rey shouldered the door open. The room looked as she remembered. Dim, the only major source of light coming from the incubation tank. She stood, hands on her hips, proud to have helped this visitor. 

Ben though, didn’t give any praise, too busy looking at the glowing tank. He slowly moved forward, as if tugged on on a string. His hand slipped from hers again as he made his way inside. 

The Snokes in the jar looked the same as the times she glanced at them before. The green substance surrounding the misshapen heads and bodies glowing. Three pairs of soulless eyes peering into the space around them, unseeing, unsensing. The look of the body, scarred as if in battle, barely hanging on if not for the instruments surrounding the tank in the room, quietly maintaining the lifeline of this monstrous looking creature. 

“Rey,” she hears Ben call to her, and she hurries inside, “how long has this been here?” 

“Hm,” Rey thinks back to when she first saw it. “Maybe a couple years?” 

She hears Ben whisper to himself, a look of horror, then shock, slide over his face. Then, he faces her, abruptly dropping to his knee to be level with her face, looking her in the eye. 

“Are you absolutely sure? Have these Snoke creatures been in here the entire time? You haven’t seen someone like this walking around here?” A crazed look begins to creep into her eyes. His hands, now around her shoulders, begin to curl, his fingers digging her shoulder blades. 

“Hey, you’re hurting me,” she whines, shrugging him off, “of course, I'm absolutely sure. I’ve been on this dumb planet my entire life!”

How dare he try to question her. She’s been on this planet for so long, she’s seen all the weird nooks and dark crevasses of the planet when she hid away from Pryde and his boring lessons. 

His arms lay limp where she shouldered them off. A slow look of resignation now moves across his features. 

“I-” Ben chokes, “I’m sorry. But, I’ve- I’ve been lied to my entire life.” He’s blinking rapidly now. 

Rey looks on as his tears fall. No one coddled Rey when she skinned her knees on the rough stone; no one helped her when she cried out for her parents. Looking at Ben’s bent form, she thinks that he’s been deprived of the same comfort. 

Tentatively, she brings a small hand to his shoulder. 

“There, there,” she whispers, and moves to wrap her arms around his torso. Her hands don’t meet at the back, he’s so broad. 

Ben’s head drops to her narrow shoulder, and he cries in earnest. 

“I-” his voice blubbery, “I gave everything to him, to Snoke. But look at him. He’s just-I don’t even know what he is.” 

Rey only silently listens, letting him vent. She doesn’t understand what he’s really talking about, but he’s upset, so she lets him speak uninterrupted. 

After a few moments, he clears his throat. He straightens up, but remains kneeling. Rey’s arms fall away, but Ben takes her hands in his when they fall. 

“Thank you, Rey,” he says as he looks into her eyes,“You’ve been very helpful, and I’m- I think it best I take my leave now. I realize there’s nothing for me here.” He turns his head to the incubation tank that holds Snoke. 

_Leave? No! You just got here,_ she mentally cries out, _and I have no friends here! We could be friends._

She pouts, and Ben looks back at her, as if hearing her thoughts aloud. He tightens his hands on her, still maintaining a loving hold. 

“Come with me Rey,” determination begins to show on his face, “let's leave this place.” 

_Leave??? Me???_

“Ben, I-” she begins to panic, “I can’t leave! My grandfather is here, my family!” 

She doesn’t want to choose between this boy she’s just met, a potential friend, and her grandfather, her only family remaining. 

“Grandfather?” Ben questions, “who is your grandfather? Where are your parents?” 

Rey begins to cry, his hands are soft and warm, but his questions are cutting. The leave of her parents isn’t something she likes to think about. 

“My parents left, you bantha butt!!” she turns away, overwhelmed. “They left me somewhere, and my grandpa Palpatine found me, and took me to his home. This planet!” 

She sees the shock written on his face when she turns back at him, tears now flowing down her face. 

* * *

He gapes at her. He knows he shouldn’t push her in such a vulnerable moment, but what kind of family member would subject a young one to a harsh, unfeeling planet? He had to convince her to leave. The idea of Palpatine alive was an unwelcome revelation, one that could wait until they were both up in the air, several galaxies away. 

_Who will I turn to for help?_ He couldn’t just go back to Yavin; his uncle probably thought that he had killed the temple students. He wasn’t sure if he could go to his mother, as his uncle had probably already spoken to her. However, she’d be his best chance to help; his mother always seemed to know what to do. Or maybe his dad? _His dad had never come to visit though,_ he miserably thought. 

A sad possibility comes to light. _Maybe I have no one._ Rey’s growing cries filtered back to his senses. _Wait._ He looks down at his hands, still cradled arounds Rey’s. _I’ll have Rey, if I have a say in this situation._ His hands tighten, and his thumb rubs at her hand as if to bring comfort. _And Rey will have me._ Rey only cries harder. _If she wants._

“Listen, Rey,” Rey only shakes her head. _Stubborn._ “I know this is hard to hear, but we’re one in the same. There is nothing for you here.” 

Rey opens her mouth, he downs she’s about to protest over her family, but he quickly cuts her off. He’s- They’re running out of time. Someone was bound to notice his ship in the hanger or his presence in the force. 

Ben reaches out. Not physically, but with the force. Gently he feels for Rey’s presence. It’s dim, the oppressive dark power of the planet weighing down on the poor girl. He senses her force sensitivity, a small light in a blanket of darkness that was Exegol. She has to know she doesn’t deserve the fate she’s been handed; she deserves better. 

He tries a different approach. Consoling a small girl was not something he foresaw when he brought his hut down on Luke and himself earlier that day, but the realization that the voice in his head was coming from some- _pickle,_ his mind supplied, in a voice similar to Rey’s - wasn’t either. Ben needed a moment to grapple with his actions, and their consequences. His head hurt, he was still tired from the long lightspeed journey to this hell of a planet, and his family probably thought he was dead, along with Luke. But he couldn’t worry about that. For now, he had to focus on one thing at a time, starting with Rey. 

_I can do this, I can do this, I can do this,_ he chanted to himself. _I have no choice but to do this._ He taps into the force, as if to gather strength from it. _Just hold on a little longer._ He sets his sight on Rey once again. He gathers the small girl in his arms, and her little arms latch around his neck, her sharp chin in the jut of his collarbone. _She’s been deprived of touch,_ he mentally notes. Then he takes a moment. _Just like me. We’re one in the same, little one._

Delicately, he looks into her head. Such is a mild dark act, but he needs something to convince her to leave. What he sees is a desert, the very image of loneliness. He sees the flashes of a sad childhood, a man with a stiff face handing her a holopad when she walked into a room with a solitary desk and chair. He sees a trainer pushing her and pushing her and pushing her until she flops on the ground, exhausted, a staff clenched in her small fist. He sees the cracks and cavities of the planet from Rey’s point of view, darkness lurking in every corner. He sees her at night, struggling to sleep, dreaming of an ocean when she finally succumbs. The last images he sees is Palpatine himself, dark hood covering a rapidly decaying body, a hand reaching out at her. He shudders.

_Her skin doesn’t even remember the feeling of sun. She’s never even seen the green of the galaxy._ _She has no experiences of the stars streaking past her eyelids in lightspeed._

Her arms seem to tighten around his neck when he carefully extracts himself, as if sensing his presence leaves her mind. 

_This is probably her first hug in a very long time._

Rey’s cries were slowly subsiding, her emotions calming as she clung to him. He mentally offered a memory of walking through the forests of Yavin to Rey. Ben feels her stiffening at the blatant use of the force, but then relaxes when she starts to see the images. 

He sees the images as he projects them over. 

_The slow sway of the foliage above him, the sunlight streaming through. The grasses beneath his feet, crisp with the early morning. The breeze tickling his hairline as he trains with a practice saber, running through forms._

Rey hiccups, her cries coming to a slow halt. 

“Is that where you’re from?” her voice timidly asks. 

“Not originally,” he responds, “but I came from there, yes.” 

She hiccups again. 

“It’s very lovely,” Rey says. 

_Now’s the moment,_ he tells himself. 

“I can show you places just like it,” he pauses, “if you come with me. We’ll go together.” 

He feels Rey fist the back of his tunic. 

“But what about my family? My grandfather?” she whispers. 

He mentally sighs. 

“Rey,” he scrambles to find a way to phrase his next words. “Your grandfather is a bad man.” _Maybe not the best start, Solo._ But Rey argues right back.

“He took me in, when my parents left! No, he’s not! You’re wrong, he’s my family!” he feels her try to squirm away, but he holds fast, not letting her escape. _Maybe she doesn’t know the dark of what her grandfather has done._ He tries a different approach. 

“What kind of family makes him subject you to this kind of planet?” Ben searches for her feelings. _She hates it here._ “You hate here Rey.” 

“S’not so bad when you’re here.” She stops squirming and tries to bury herself deeper into his embrace. 

He remembers the image of the shadowed hand of Palpatine from Rey’s head. There had only been one memory of her grandfather at the surface of her head; she must only see him on rare occasions. An absent family presence growing up; he knew something of the feeling. 

“Come with me Rey,” he says again, impossibly soft. “We can travel the galaxy. We can leave this place.” 

He thinks of a line that he hopes will completely convince her; something he wants, something she hopefully wants too. He wants to use a soft press of the force to convince her, but the choice has to be hers alone, no forced persuasion at play. 

“We can be family.” 

At that, Rey’s cries start again, her tears soaking into his tunic. 

_I’ll be there for you, unlike your parents, unlike your grandfather. We can see the green places; we can feel the sunshine. We can visit the ocean from your dreams._

He mentally reaches her. _Would you like that Rey?_

She verbally responds, her answer, bliss to his ears. She cries through it, muffling her responses, but he hears it crystal clear. 

“Yes, please,” she cries on his shoulder, “I like that a lot. So much.” 

He lets out a relieved breath and moves his arm to support her against him as he stands up, Rey still clinging to him. 

“Let’s get out of here then, little one.” 


End file.
